Sewer Project Commentary (April 24, 2009)
The Minnesota Supreme Court just made a disappointing decision reversing the Court of Appeals in regard to the Alexandria Lakes Area Sanitary District (ALASD) expansion project. The Lake Le Homme Dieu Association partnered with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy fighting this expansion because of what we believe is a major threat to area lakes.
We are a community that depends on clean lakes for our residents and for tourism. Though we have to come up with methods to deal with our sewage, dumping endless amounts of discharge into the lakes is a bad way to do it.
The ALASD sewer plant discharges into Lake Winona and the water then flows into Lakes Winona, Agnes, Henry, Le Homme Dieu and Carlos on its way to the Long Prairie River and points south. The expansion of the sewer district’s service area will greatly increase the volume of discharge into the lakes.
We all believe that ALASD provides a valuable service to our community by providing areas within its district connection to sanitary sewer. However, the border lines and services area of the district are ever increasing. In 2008, the City of Forada was added and it may be that ALASD management plans to add other communities and areas far outside of the original service area of the ALASD plant.
The City of Alexandria and its immediate lakes area have steadily grown over the years and will continue to do so. The ALASD plant was designed to handle sewage from this ever increasing population. However, it is not right to increase the sewer district to provide sanitary sewer for areas well outside of Alexandria. This increased service will result in increased discharge polluting the lakes.
If the ALASD expansion continues, more and more effluent discharge will be pumped into Lake Winona. Its waters will be flushed through Lakes Agnes, Henry, Le Homme Dieu and Carlos. Greater and greater amounts of discharge threaten to ruin Lakes Agnes and Henry, including the beach at Alexandria’s City Park. The value of residential properties, and the enjoyment of the lakes by everyone who uses them or visits here, will be diminished. Our lakes will be irreversibly polluted.
Lakes Le Homme Dieu and Carlos, already developed and pressured by pollution from many sources, will be ruined by an over ambitious decision to expand the ALASD operation, far beyond what was ever imagined when the sewer district was first set up.
Our lake board is not against progress. But we believe that as responsible members of our community, we must continue to express our concern that the expansion of the ALASD plant is wrong. And even though a narrow ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed the previous decision, it is a mistake for this community to ignore the threat of
lake pollution. Further expansion of the ALASD sewer district will harm all of us if it is allowed to occur.
Published April 24, 2009 in the Echo Press
By Keith Dougherty, President of Lake Le Homme Dieu Association